1 Introduction to Coherence*Web

This chapter describes the advantages of using Coherence*Web for managing session state in clustered environments. It lists the containers that can use Coherence*Web and provides an installation and deployment roadmap. More detailed information on installation, deployment, and features are provided in following chapters.

can be used in advanced session models (that is, Monolithic, Traditional, and Split Session) that define how the session state is serialized or deserialized in the cluster (see "Session Models").

1.2 Supported Web Containers

To install the Coherence*Web session management module on Oracle WebLogic Server 9.2.1, 9.2.3, 10.3.1, and later, you can use the Coherence*Web Service Provider Interface (SPI)-based installation. For instructions on installing the Management Module on WebLogic Server 10.3.4, see Oracle Coherence User's Guide for Oracle Coherence*Web.

For third-party application servers and a few legacy versions of Oracle WebLogic Server (9.2.1, 9.2.3, 10.3, 10.3.1), Coherence*Web provides a generic installer, the WebInstaller, that transparently instruments your Web applications. Chapter 4, "Using Coherence*Web on Other Application Servers," describes how to use the WebInstaller to install Coherence*Web on these servers.

Table 1-1 summarizes the Web containers supported by the Coherence*Web session management module. It also provides links to the information required to install Coherence*Web. Notice that all of the Web containers (except Oracle WebLogic Server 10.3.4) share the same general installation instructions. A few, such as Caucho Resin, and WebLogic 10.n, require extra, container-specific steps that you must complete before starting the general installation instructions.

Note:

The value in the Server Type Alias column is used only by the Coherence*Web WebInstaller installation. The value is passed to the WebInstaller through the -server command-line option.

1.3 Installation and Deployment Road Map

There are deployment decisions you should make before you configure and deploy Coherence*Web. Coherence*Web is supported on many different application servers. Regardless of which application server you are using, you might have to change some Coherence*Web configuration options to meet your particular requirements, such as packaging considerations, session model, session locking mode, and deployment topology.

1.3.1 Choose Your Cluster Node Isolation

Cluster node isolation refers to the scope of the Coherence nodes that are created within each application server JVM. Several different isolation modes are supported.

For example: you might be deploying multiple applications to the container that require the use of the same cluster (or one Coherence node); you might have multiple Web applications packaged in a single EAR file that use a single cluster; or you might have Web applications that must keep their session data separate and must be deployed to their own individual Coherence cluster. These choices and the deployment descriptors and elements that must be configured are described in "Cluster Node Isolation".

1.3.2 Choose Your Locking Mode

Locking mode refers to the behavior of HTTP sessions when they are accessed concurrently by multiple Web container threads. Coherence*Web offers several different session locking options. For example, you can allow multiple nodes in a cluster to access an HTTP session simultaneously, or allow only one thread at a time to access an HTTP session. You can also allow multiple threads to access the same Web application instance while prohibiting concurrent access by threads in different Web application instances. These choices, and the deployment descriptors and elements that must be configured, are described in "Session Locking Modes".

1.3.3 Choose How to Scope Sessions and Session Attributes

Session and session attribute scoping refers to the fine-grained control over how both session data and session attributes are scoped (or shared) across application boundaries. Coherence*Web supports sharing sessions across Web applications and restricts which session attributes are shared across the application boundaries. These choices, and the deployment descriptors and elements that must be configured, are described in "Session and Session Attribute Scoping".

1.3.4 Choose When to Clean Up Expired HTTP Sessions

1.3.5 Choose the Installation Method

The installation procedure that you follow depends on your application server. "Supported Web Containers" provides a list of the application servers and the corresponding instructions for installing Coherence*Web.

If you are installing Coherence*Web on an older release of WebLogic Server (such as WebLogic Server 11gR1 or earlier), use the native WebLogic Server SPI-based installation procedure described in Coherence User's Guide for Oracle Coherence*Web at this URL: